Unexpected
by thatHarlot
Summary: Jim and Spock meet for one night in San Francisco as teenagers, and Jim goes back to Iowa with an unexpected souvenir. Kirk/Spock MPREG
1. Jeez, mom

Sam was in staying with some friends, and they were in-between stepfathers, so Jim had no choice but to accompany his mother as she returned to Starfleet Academy. Winona was on shore-leave, but the ship she was stationed with would be done with it's upgrades in about a fortnight, and she and the other nurses had to report in early to learn specific xenobiological concerns for their upcoming mission.

Sam had promised he would pick Jim up in San Francisco in about a week's time.

Winona didn't quite know what to do with Jim. He was no longer a bouncing baby, happy to just be fed and changed; he was more man than child, a man she hardly knew. Once Jim had turned eight, she had decided to return to active duty and let the care of her son be left to her eldest and their stepfather, a decision she regretted now. Jim probably resented her, and she couldn't blame him. She glanced over at the shuttle seat next to her, and felt a vague ache at what she saw.

Jim looked like George more everyday. His eyes sparked blue electric from his tan features, and he was glaring at her, at the look on her face.

The shuttle set down none too gracefully, and Jim shot up and headed straight for the door. Winona gathered her bags, and followed the rest of the passengers out the door, where she knew Jim would wait for her.

Her quarters at the Academy were meant for only one, which meant Jim would have to sleep on the couch, but she heard no words of complaint. It felt strange to mother him, to make up rules that he wouldn't follow, so she didn't bother. She only told Jim he could explore the city, as long as he was back each night.

Her days were filled with the familiar rituals she had become accustomed to at Starfleet; her nights were spent listening for her son, eyes falling shut only when she knew he was safe.

Tonight, however, she was still waiting.

* * *

Jim took advantage of his freedom and roamed the city. When that got boring, he decided to go to a bar.

This particular bar catered to many varieties, but mostly cadets from the Academy. Jim was almost carded, but a quick grin on a pretty face could get you many places. He slipped in, and was glad to see the general crowd didn't look that much older than him. He perched on a bar stool, and leaned his elbows against the counter. He got a rum and coke from the bartender, and gulped it down, hoping his mother's fake sincerity and awkward hugs could be bleached from his mind. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his back, and turned to see a sandy-haired man in a Starfleet uniform smiling at him.

"Lose yer mom, kid?"

Horrified, Jim wondered if this man knew Winona, and if he could be bribed not to tell her where exactly he had met Jim.

" 'Cause, you look a lit'le young to be here." The man's Scottish accent lilted over the words, and Jim breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm not as young as I look. I promise."

The man looked skeptical, but nodded as if he was humoring Jim. "Let me buy you a drink, and you can tell me why you're lying. Name's Montgomery Scott, but Scotty will work jus' fine."

Jim laughed, and held out his hand. "My name is Jim. And was it that obvious I was lying?"

Scotty grinned. "A bit."

Scotty bought Jim drinks, and Jim opened up as the alcohol flowed. Eventually, Scotty had to leave, and Jim fuzzily nodded his goodbye, nursing his drink. He sat at the bar, wondering if he would meet up with Scotty before Sam came to pick him up, when he felt wet breath on his ear.

"Wanna go somewhere?"

An obviously drunk man nearly twice his age was leaning heavily on the bar, and staring at Jim hungrily. He made an attempt to grab at Jim, but Jim hopped off the bar stool, and sneered.

"With you? Not a chance."

A gleam of anger cut through the drunken haze of the man's eyes, and he lunged at Jim. Jim felt the air knocked out of his lungs as he hit the ground, than man's bulk landing heavily on top of him. Jim had enough time to get oriented before a punch clipped him on the side of his face. He tried to roll out from under the man, but the drunk was sitting on Jim's chest, effectively trapping him.

The man's fist was poised for another punch when he was suddenly lifted off of Jim and deposited rather heavily on the floor. Jim blinked up into a pale, fuzzy face that came into view and seemed to be checking him, peering at his bruised cheek.

"Can you hear me?"

Jim nodded, and his savior helped him up. Jim staggered, and leaned onto the stranger, noticing vaguely that he smelled like incense.

"Do you remember your place of residence?"

Jim tried to remember Winona's room number in the Academy, and her door code, but all he could focus on where the intent eyes of the stranger and the curious shape of his eyebrows and ears.

"Not...not really."

"Do you reside in San Francisco, or have family that do?"

Jim didn't want to see his mom, not like this.

"I'm alone."

The man was wearing a cadet uniform. Despite his mature attitude, Jim could see that this stranger was very young--perhaps even Jim's age. He was also alien...Jim couldn't focus enough to recall the name of the species, and instead decided to focus on the way this man's mouth would shape his words.

"I will take you to the infirmary, where they will be able to adequately provide you--"

"No! I can't go to the hospital. I'm fine, I just need a place to crash for the night." Jim widened his eyes and tried to look endearing. "I'm just alone in this city, all I need is a place to stay for the night until I'm sober, I swear I wouldn't take anything, and you look around my age..." Jim trailed off hopefully.

The Vulcan (Vulcan, that was it), raised an eyebrow, but something Jim had said seemed to have had an effect.

"None of my possessions are worth great monetary value, and as my quarters are in Starfleet Academy, the likelihood of you successfully pilfering them is slim."

Jim beamed, and unless his was imagining it,a flush of green appeared on the young Vulcan face.

Maybe this trip wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

Written for a prompt on st_xi_kink, but I will finish it here.

Review!


	2. Just a little fun

After walking turned out to be impossible, and after his initial protests, Jim found himself being carried by the Vulcan.

"I assure you, the few blocks from this bar to my quarters will not put any physical strain on my person."

Jim sighed, but leaned his head against his savior's chest. "What's your name, anyway? Mine's Jim."

The Vulcan shifted Jim a bit in his arms, as if he weighed barely anything, and responded. "My name is Spock."

Jim repeated the name silently, trying it out in his mouth. "I like it. Well, Spock, thanks for saving my ass and letting it sleep in your house. I mean, it's a really trusting thing to do. Most people wouldn't do that." Jim paused, and looked at Spock speculatively. "You must be really strong. I guess it's because you are Vulcan. And the ears. Those are pretty cool. Like a bat."

Spock somehow looked amused without changing his expression. "Are you normally so loquacious or is it inspired by your apparent inebriation?"

A grin broke across Jim's face, and he laughed.

"I always talk a lot! I get in trouble for it at school, you know, because teachers don't like it when you talk while they drone on. I'm glad I'm graduating early."

Spock kept his eyes on the sidewalk and other pedestrians, but he glanced down at Jim. "May I inquire your age?"

"Sixteen. I'll be seventeen next week though, after spring break. How old are you? You don't look that old, but you are in Starfleet already......"

"I am seventeen. Compulsory Vulcan education is completed at at an earlier age, and most Vulcans choose to matriculate to the Vulcan Science Academy."

Jim squinted up at Spock. "What made you choose Starfleet?"

Spock didn't answer, and Jim gave up expecting one. Probably a touchy subject. He was watching the other pedestrians on the sidewalk when Spock suddenly spoke.

"Starfleet provides a more progressive atmosphere, and although the Vulcan Science Academy has excellent recommendations, the archaic traditionalism of the institution did not appeal to me."

The aforementioned Starfleet Academy came into view, as impressive and grand as it had always looked on TV, or on his mother's postcards. Jim could see several cadets give Spock incredulous looks, many stopping in their conversations to stare as Spock carried Jim inside the building towards the dorms. He supposed it did look a bit strange. The interior of the building seemed less crowded, and the pair didn't come across any more cadets. That, or Spock was avoiding the more crowded areas.

Jim pressed his ear against Spock's crimson clad chest, trying to find his heartbeat. It was very faint, but Jim couldn't make out the source. "Hey, where is your heart?"

Spock stepped inside a turbolift, carefully maneuvering Jim so he wouldn't hit the sides. After punching in his coordinates, the lift shut its doors and started moving. "My heart is located in my abdominal region, as is common for the Vulcan species."

For some reason, most likely due to his alcohol content, Jim thought this was hilarious.

He was still laughing as they exited the turbolift onto a residential floor, and continued as Spock punched in his door code. It had quieted into giggles when Spock carefully set him down on a bed.

"I will be on the couch, if you require-"

Spock paused as he felt Jim's hand on his arm. "Don't sleep on the couch. Sleep here, with me."

Unsuccessfully, Spock tried to tug his arm out of Jim's grasp. However, despite the Vulcan strength, Jim held on, his eyes looking surprisingly lucent, and very blue. Suddenly, Jim stood up, a wobble barely perceptible.

"Jim, your sense of propriety and judgment are impaired."

Jim leaned in close to the Vulcan, his breath ghosting over Spock's lips. "I know exactly what I'm doing."

Spock tried to remember all the control methods he had learned to suppress his emotions, but any thought escaped as Jim's lips collided with his. Before he could collect himself, Spock was kissing back, pushing Jim down on the bed and lifting his leg so he was straddling the human.

Spock was Vulcan, sure, but he was still a _teenaged boy. _

So when Jim arched up into his body, Spock found himself grinding back down. Their mouths battled one another, biting lips and licking teeth. Spock had kissed people to find out what it was like (he was a scientist, after all), but for the first time, he thought he could identify with the human concept of _passion._

Sarek's reprimanding voice filtered through the Vulcan's mind briefly, but as Jim's mouth bit his neck and sucked, Spock knew that resistance was futile.

Their clothes were a short affair, frantically pulled off and thrown into the dark recesses of Spock's dorm room, which he thankfully had to himself. The touch of bare skin was stimulating, and Jim shivered as Spock's hand trailed down his body, leaving warm trails in its wake. Spock's skin felt hot, feverish even, and Jim would have been concerned for the other boy if Spock hadn't started pumping his dick, and the only thing that mattered after that was feeling and _doing_.

Jim had had sex with girls, and at most only fooled around with guys in the locker room, but he could guess how the mechanics worked with two males, and he didn't particularly want to be the girl in this scenario. When he felt the hot fingers of Spock's other hand nudge his backside, and he almost shot off the bed. However, Spock leaned down and started whispering in Jim's ear, a constant stream of foreign syllables, and he didn't even notice that the fingers were _in him _until they rubbed against something and _jesus---_

After that tactile promise, Jim went with whatever Spock did. Even when he pushed into Jim, --which fucking hurt at first but later turned out to be amazing-- he went with it. And when they were finished, Jim found himself falling asleep on the chest of a Vulcan and told himself that this what being young was all about.

* * *

Jim woke up with a headache and a hard on, which was pretty typical of his life.

He slowly registered that he was naked, and that he was alone in a bed instead of his mother's couch.

_Fuck. Mom is going to gut me. _

Jim remembered the night in flashes, and whole parts of the night just weren't there, but he did remember the Vulcan.

_What was his name? It sounded like spork....._

Jim winced as a pain shot through his head, and he gingerly sat up, and looked around for his clothes. To his surprise, they were neatly folded, and from what he could tell, cleaned, on a small table beside the bed, with a note pinned to the top. Jim plucked the note off his shirt, and squinted at it.

**Jim,**

**You are welcome to use the restroom to make yourself presentable. I will be finished with my classes late afternoon, by which time I hope you have discovered alternative lodgings.**

**-Spock**

So, a barely polite _fuck off_.

Jim wasn't hurt by the dismissal; he had no illusions about the previous night. Besides, he wasn't into relationships anyway, and whatever had motivated Spock last night had obviously left him come morning.

Jim used the sonic shower, and pulled on his clean clothes before setting out of Spock's dorm. He was lucky he didn't have to travel far to reach his destination as his mother also resided in Starfleet for the duration of her shore leave. After a few turbolifts and turning corners he reached the familiar hall of his mother's rooms. He quickly tapped out the door code and tried to resist vomiting all over the door itself, before it opened and Jim stumbled in. After a quick scan of the quarters, Jim was slightly relieved to find that his mother was nowhere to be seen. He trailed his hand along the wall to steady himself on the way to the bathroom. It was a near-miss as he collasped by the toilet, retching vile tasting liquid into the ceramic bowl.

He was washing his face when he heard the front door slide open, and he reluctantly set out of the bathroom to go back into the main room.

His mother was furious.

"Where have you been?! I have been up all night looking for you!" Winona wasn't screaming, but her voice was cracking and her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, and that was somehow worse.

"I got lost and stayed with a friend. _Sorry_." Jim couldn't help but adopt that sarcastic tone most teenagers did with their parents, especially as his mom hadn't been much of one.

Winona marched over to where Jim was standing and grabbed his chin. "Have you been drinking? Jim you are sixteen years old!"

Jim jerked his face from his mother's grasp and stumbled over to the couch to lay down.

"So? Its not as if it makes a difference. It never has before."

Winona looked as if someone had slapped her. She didn't say anything for a while, long enough for Jim to start to feel bad. He was just wondering how to apologize when his mother abruptly stood up, and looked down at her son on the couch.

"We are going home."

Jim sat up. "Sam's coming in a few days Mom, stop freaking out--"

"No, Jim. I have made too many mistakes. I can't make any more. We, you and I, are going home. Sleep off whatever you drank last night while I go talk to my superiors about an honorable discharge."

Jim stared after his mom's blond head as she walked through the door, and kept staring even after it closed behind her.

* * *

The shuttle back to Riverside, Iowa, was awkward, but not in the way that coming to San Francisco had been. Jim couldn't even focus on having lost his male virginity to a kid named _Spock_, of all things, because his mother was coming home and staying home. Jim could remember wishing for that very thing for most of his childhood, and he wasn't sure how he would deal with the reality. He got away with a lot of stuff with his mom off-planet, and Sam wasn't exactly the best authority figure, besides.

He glanced at Winona.

She looked tense, but there was no anger or sadness left in her eyes as she looked at Jim. She simply looked wan, and a bit irritated, but Jim found himself grinning at his mother. She rolled her eyes and put her arm around her son, resting her head against his.

Jim wouldn't admit it to anyone in the Federation, but as he leaned in to his mother, he didn't stop smiling until they landed in the dock.

* * *

A/N: Spock will come back in the picture. Eventually. Meanwhile, I am trying to think of a plausible reason for Jim being able to get pregnant. If anyone has ideas, hit me up.

REVIEW PLEASE I KNOW YOU DONT WANNA BUT I NEED YOU TO.


	3. Oh Hell No

Jim didn't usually attend class; he only went when it was strictly necessary, such as an important participation grade or test. His teachers had long ago grudgingly accepted that, although he was basically truant, Jim didn't _have_ to attend class to make stellar grades. No matter how many impulsive quizzes they pushed on Jim, trying to surprise him into failing, he had an unblemished academic record.

He chose to spend the time that would otherwise be wasted in class to pursue more interesting endeavors. He would typically spend his days fixing his motorcycle, accompanying Sam on random errands his older brother had, or playing pool at the local bar while the bartender slipped him drinks.

Winona wasn't having any of it.

Despite anything Jim said, or even his report card as evidence to support his protests, Winona was adamant in Jim attending class. Every morning she lovingly prepared a sack lunch (social death, as far as Jim was concerned), and cheerfully called the school to ask them to notify her if Jim was inexcusably absent (a policy the school had anyway, but Winona had never been home before). She dropped her son off in front of the school building every morning in her outdated hovercraft, and was completely unsympathetic to Jim's complaints that her behavior was destroying his "rep".

As for Jim himself, he wasn't taking the change in his schedule, or sudden parental authority, too well. He had always hated high school, although not for the same reasons most of his peers had. He had no problem with the social aspect; he was outgoing, smart, handsome, athletic, and generally well-liked. The Student Government president had even told him he would have been a Homecoming King nominee if he hadn't been too young to be eligible at the time. No, his problem was in the coursework of the school.

It was too easy. If Jim didn't already know the lesson when the teacher introduced it, it didn't take him long to get it, and he would spend the rest of the period bored out of his mind, not comprehending why everyone else didn't understand it, or why they had to go over the same concept over and over again just because some people were slow. Even after being bumped up two grades, it did little to quell his mind. Being in class was a cruel torture, and after turning in his assignments (always first one to put it on the teacher's desk) he would stare at the clock, willing it to be lunch or P.E. so he could finally _do _something.

Jim shifted in his seat restlessly, jiggling his foot and wondering if his wooden desk would ever get comfortable. He was waiting for the bell to ring (in half an hour), desperately trying to ignore the longing glances of a blonde girl three desks over. Jim had hooked up with her a few days after Spring Break had ended, around the time of his 17th birthday, and she had been bothering him ever since. He was just trying to think of a way to let her down nicely when a vaguely nauseous feeling overcame him. It quickly passed and Jim almost forgot about it until it reappeared, stronger and more swift. One hand shot up into the air while he held the other over his mouth. The teacher glanced at his pale face and nodded to the classroom door, holding out the hall pass as Jim practically ran out of his seat, grabbed the pass and hurtled into the corridor.

Luckily, the bathroom was across the hall, and he barely managed to make it into the stall when the contents of one of his mother's sack lunches reemerged, splashing noisily into the bowl. Jim kept gagging, and shakily leaned his back against the door of the stall. After washing up and heading to the nurses' office, Jim was allowed to sign out and go home. He and his mother assumed it was a just a bug he caught from someone (Jim had dark suspicions about the blonde girl), and that it would be over soon enough.

It happened almost every day.

Jim also felt more tired than was normal, and Winona started getting worried after a few weeks with no sign of improvement. She made a doctor's appointment, and accompanied her son when the day for it arrived.

Jim sat miserably in the waiting room while his mother idly flipped through one of the mindless magazines they offered, waiting for his name to be called. He had wanted to bring some oranges to eat, but Winona had said he couldn't eat them in the doctor's office, and even if he could, they didn't have any because Jim had eaten them all at the house.

"Since when have you liked oranges anyway, Jimmy?"

Jim was about to react to the childish moniker when his (proper) name was called.

"James Kirk?"

They both stood up and followed behind a meek nurse, Winona guiding Jim with her hand on his back. The nurse took Jim's standard information, such as his weight and temperature, and informed them that the doctor would be in shortly.

Jim was sitting on small bed that was in the office, rustling the paper cover on it as he moved, looking around the office. There were medical posters with pictures of oozing wounds, describing the symptoms of maladies and how to care for them. There were also the cheesy motivational posters typical of places like this. Jim was staring at a poster of a kitten holding on to a branch, it's hind feet dangling in the air (_hang in there!_), when the office door opened, and a severe-looking woman strode in.

Her dark hair was pulled into an unremarkable chignon, and she had a serious attitude that made Jim wonder whose idea it was to put that kitten poster in here, because it clearly was _this_ lady's doing. She quickly scanned her clipboard, and smiled at him. "Hello, I'm Dr. Michaels. Jim, it says here you have been ill for the past week. Vomiting, fatigue, that sort of thing. Is this correct?"

Jim nodded, and the doctor glanced again at her papers. "You don't appear to have any signs of a fever at the moment. Have you experienced any fevers this past week?"

"No, it's just been the puking and tiredness."

She asked a few more customary questions before inquiring Jim to describe his symptoms in full.

After Jim rattled off all the crap he had been experiencing for the past few weeks, he looked at the doctor's face and saw a pinched look, making her serious features look more brooding. She had him give a urine sample, and had to convince him to get his blood taken. She asked him and his mother to go back into the waiting room while tests were run, claiming it would only take about an hour. As he sat down, Jim really hoped that clingy girl hadn't given him something, or that he had some incurable disease that they had just discovered and would name after him.

When the doctor called them back into her office, she had a grey tinge to her face and Jim assumed the worst.

"Well", the doctor sighed, "there is no easy way to say this. Jim, you're _pregnant._"

Winona let out a surprised laugh, while Jim slowly blinked his incomprehension at the doctor. He didn't know they gave Ph.D's to _crazy people._

Dr. Michaels held up her hand. "Before you start questioning my sanity, I'm going to tell you something. Look at it as a little history lesson, if you will. During the late 21st century, scientists were interested in eugenics. There was a lot of genetic research being done to _direct_ human evolution, to mutate desirable traits. However, after some of these traits got dangerous, it was banned. One of the mutated genes that emerged was the ability for males to become impregnated, and carry a child to term; these men were known as Carriers. Now, it was a relatively small group that possessed the Carrier gene, and doctors have been largely convinced that the gene was bred out. They stopped testing expectant mothers for the gene a few centuries ago, as a matter of fact."

Winona spoke up, looking worriedly at her son, who had a vacant expression on his face and seemed to be in shock.

"If it hasn't shown up in centuries, why is it suddenly appearing out of nowhere?"

The doctor rubbed her forehead, looking sympathetically at Jim's still form. "The genotype is expressed only when two recessive alleles are present; which would explain why it hasn't shown up until now, given it's rarity. Apparently, you and Jim's father both possessed this recessive allele. It was simply chance."

Jim was listening to the doctor with one ear, while the rest of his mind seemed to have decided to freak out.

He would've preferred the incurable disease.

Dr. Michaels walked to stand in front of Jim, and bent a bit so she was eye level with him.

"Jim, you have to calm down. The situation is done and you have to accept that. We need to discuss options, alright? I know this is hard for you, but you can't lose it right now."

It seemed no one was home, but after a minute, Jim's blue eyes cleared and he nodded slowly, a helpless look on his face.

The doctor straightened up, and smoothed down her white coat. "Good. This is a very special situation, and needs to be handled carefully. You have two options; keep it, or abort it. It is entirely your decision, and whatever your choice, there is luckily a precedent for this situation. My staff and I will have to refer to the research and studies involved with Carriers to prepare, but I will need your decision in a few weeks Jim, otherwise it is beyond my legal right to abort the fetus."

The doctor spoke with Winona briefly about how to care for Jim in the next week or so, and scheduled another appointment for the week after next. His mother's hand on his back was the only way he knew where he was going, as he was likely to walk into a wall at this point. After exiting the building and climbing into the hovercraft, Winona and Jim sat in silence, the only sound being the muted noises of the parking lot.

"So", his mother's voice broke the quiet. "Who knocked you up?"

Jim looked over at his mother, who had a small smile on her face. He felt his face fall into a small grin, and soon, both of them were laughing, tears streaming down their faces, and Jim took big gulping breaths that kept stuttering back into giggles.

Winona wiped a few stray tears, and looked at Jim with shining eyes. "I always thought I would come home to some angry parents of a poor girl you or Sam got pregnant."

Jim shook his head in wonderment. "To be honest, so did I. I would never, _never, _have suspected this."

His mother put the key in and started the car. "It was the last thing I would have thought, although I guess it explains the oranges." Her voice suddenly got serious. "You do have to think about what you want to do. I'll give you a few days, but after that, we are sitting down and discussing this."

Jim nodded, thankful he would have a bit of time to mull things over.

"Thanks mom. And I'll let you tell Sam, because _no way_ am I telling him. I don't want to see his reaction. I'm pretty sure he will never let me live this down."

Winona shifted the controls of the hovercraft, heading in the direction of town.

"Ok, just make sure you aren't around when I do, because otherwise I can't guarantee what he will say about it."

"I wish I could go to another planet when you tell him." He looked over at his mother hopefully.

"Jim, no. Also, we need to stop by the store before we go home, I need stuff for dinner tonight."

Jim paled. "Mom, don't cook. The lunches are bad enough. Just let Sam cook until we get the replicator fixed."

"One: We aren't going to fix the replicator because I had enough of that pretend food in Starfleet. Two: I wasn't going to cook, I was going to let Sam, although maybe I should just to punish you for that smart mouth."

Jim rolled his eyes, and sighed dramatically. "Fine, but while we are in the store, we are getting some oranges."

* * *

**A/N:** The response has been amazing! Thank you so much for all the suggestions, they really helped. I thought it was hilarious how loads of people were like 'just make him pregnant, no one cares how!'. I would have felt bad if I had left it like that though lol. Next chapter: What will Jim choose, what will Sam say, and will Jim ever get more oranges?

OT, but did anyone see Harry Potter? Because I did and I was like 'WTF did they do to my favorite book'. I know a lot of people who loved it, but whatever.

REVIEW you guys were so amazing last chapter, I almost cried.


	4. 17 and Pregnant

Jim heard a crash and muffled yelling, and debated whether or not he should go downstairs to investigate. Right when he decided it would be too much trouble, and had returned to reading his book, heavy steps pounded up the stairs, the door to his room was thrown open, and Sam was squinting at him.

He knew.

It was extremely obvious that Sam knew, if not from the vaguely horrified look on his visage, then the frantic glances from Jim's face to his still-flat stomach were enough to tip him off.

"YOU."

Jim gave his older brother an exasperated glance. "Me."

Sam looked pale, his mouth silently working as if it were practicing what was about to be spoken. "You. _Pregnant_?"

The younger tried to keep a straight face. "Yes, Tarzan, me pregnant."

"You are such a little dipshit. How did this happen?"

Jim marked his place in the book, and closed it. When he spoke, it was very slowly and carefully. "Well, Sam, when two people love each other very much, they--"

"That's it. I don't care if you're pregnant, I am going to murder you."

"At least do it after he gives birth." Both boys turned to Jim's door, where Winona was looking at her sons with an amused expression. "Sam, you didn't let me finish explaining. Let's go downstairs and I will tell you what's happening."

Jim smirked at his brother, and looked at his mother with gratitude.

"After I get done with him, you and I are talking about this, Jimmy. You have had the time I promised you." With that, Winona turned from the room and headed back down the staircase.

Jim's face fell, and he flipped off Sam after the elder mimed laughing at him from behind their mother's back. The last few days had been focused on The Decision, with school and life providing background noise. His teachers and friends had been concerned at his uncharacteristic reticence, but he artfully shrugged off any inquiries about his well-being, internally reviewing his options. The pros and cons had been weighed, personal ethics, and countless other factors had been reexamined and Jim believed he had a choice made. However, that was with himself; telling his mother seemed so _final._

Also, she would want to know the who and where about the conception, and he could only hope the confession wouldn't resurrect the old tension, destroying the tentative relationship Jim and his mother had built since she had left Starfleet about two months prior.

Jim returned to his book, but after fruitlessly re-reading the same sentence repeatedly, he put the novel down and waited.

* * *

"So." Winona fiddled with her greying blonde hair, and looked at Jim intently from across the small kitchen table. Sam had gone off on a date with his girlfriend, Aurelan, but not before he made several remarks about Jim's masculinity and virtue, with which Jim retorted that Sam's mustache made him look like a douche.

Now that Sam was off, there was nothing to distract their mother from talking to him. Jim sighed, and looked wearily at his mother. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, you never told me who the boy was, for starters."

Jim looked guiltily away, before training his eyes back on his mother. "He was a cadet from Starfleet. I don't really remember his name." Jim was lying and knew perfectly well what the other guy's name was, but he was half afraid that Winona would recognize it and do something mortifying with the information, like try to contact him.

She looked momentarily startled, recognizing from his brief description _when_ the conception would have occurred, but to his relief she made no mention of it.

"Have you come to a decision? If you haven't, we can talk it out, try to think about what would be best--"

"I'm keeping it."

His mother stared at him, her blue eyes a few shades darker than the ones he inherited from his father. She was looking at him, _into_ him, for something he didn't know, but when she found it, she straightened in her chair and smiled at him.

"I was hoping you would say that, to be honest. I grew used to the idea of a baby around the house. However, you understand the responsibility, right? A baby isn't a pet you can stop playing with when it gets boring. I will help you, of course, and Sam has agreed to, as well. I suppose we are lucky you will be out of school before you really start showing...."

Jim couldn't think of what to say to convey his feelings, besides, "Sam _said _that?"

"Well," she sighed, "I may have encouraged him. Or threatened him. But the point is, we support you, and you should know that your family is here for you. Okay, honey?"

Jim felt suspiciously close to crying, and nodded. "Okay mom. Thanks."

Winona stood up and walked over to where Jim sat. She leaned down and put her arms around her son, the smell of her perfume invading his senses. "I owe you, I believe, big time. Besides, I'm your mother. I'm used to cleaning up your messes."

* * *

Dr. Michaels' expression didn't change at his declaration to keep the child, but she assured Jim and his mother that she and her team had done much research, and would continue to do so through the duration of his pregnancy to ensure that it went well.

"Now," Dr. Michaels gave Jim a pointed look. "I am obligated to ask if the father was of the Human species."

Jim thought about lying, but quickly discarded that impulse. "No, he was a Vulcan."

The doctor now had a _very_ surprised look on her attractive face, her eyebrows shooting high up on her forehead.

"Is that bad?" Jim asked, worriedly.

"Well," the doctor cleared her throat. "Vulcans don't normally breed outside their species, or engage in casual relationships. They are famous for their cultural homogeny, in fact. I will need to have you come in every few weeks, to make sure you and the baby are healthy, because although Vulcans are a humanoid species, I have never heard of any sort of hybrid with them before this, at least recorded on Earth. There is a possibility of complications arising from this mixed heritage, least of which the baby might turn out to be sterile. You will just have to be very careful."

Jim shared a scared glanced with his mother, who pulled him close. They arranged the bi-weekly checkups and the prescriptions Jim needed to keep his body healthy. The doctor also gave him a list of food he should eat, and a detailed chart of what to expect in the coming weeks. After glancing over it, he couldn't help but internally sigh.

_This is going to a bitch. _

_

* * *

_

Graduation would have been exciting if he could drink and celebrate like a normal, underage teenager, but the baby thing kind of limited his fun. He was, at least, grateful that he didn't have to attend class, if only so he didn't have to worry about throwing up on his lab partner anymore.

His slowly growing stomach had been easily hidden by looser shirts and jackets, and was more than adequately disguised in his voluminous graduation gown. Walking across the stage and accepting his diploma, he felt a sense of accomplishment that he had only heard_ other_ people talk about.

As the valedictorian gave her speech, he looked into the crowd of spectators, searching for and finding the faces of his mother, Sam, and somehow unsurprisingly, Dr. Michaels. Jim wasn't valedictorian, if only because his tardies disqualified him. However he did pass with honors, so he had to wear a dopey cowl around his neck that his mother had been insanely proud of.

After throwing his cap into the sky with the others and watching them rain back down, he was invited to various parties. He actually had his mother's blessing to be out all night, with the expressed concern that he be careful. However, even with permission to be irresponsible, Jim declined all the offers and opted to just go home. His back hurt, and he felt extremely tired. A part of him lamented his inability to properly celebrate the end of his high school career, but his body craved rest and quiet.

Besides, he had been wild enough in the last decade to make up for a few months of forced obedience.

He took obligatory pictures with a few of his classmates, signed yearbooks until his hand cramped, and accepted hugs from his mother, and surprisingly, a few teachers. As he got into the hovercraft with his mother to head back home, he glanced back at his school briefly, before turning back around to play some music on the radio.

Life after high school was anti-climatic, and soon settled down into routine boredom. Any plans to matriculate to any higher-education institution were put on hold, indefinitely; Jim had briefly toyed with the idea of joining Starfleet, until he got pregnant. He had dreamed for years of escaping Riverside, as he had had no personal ties or reason to stay. However, now he had a baby to care for, and an actual family to help him. His mother was home, Sam went out less and brought over Aurelan more, and Jim felt like he had a family for the first time in years.

The summer weather in Iowa seemed particularly horrible that year, and Jim spent most of it reading on the porch or laying around in Aurelan's swimming pool in between his bi-weekly doctor visits. His stomach was growing bigger, and he felt hot and large in the sticky heat. Sam was trying to fix the AC, but the farmhouse was so antiquated that it was pretty much a lost cause.

Jim had to unstick himself from every chair in the house, and Winona's hair fell limp despite any of her attempts to style it. Weirdly enough, Sam seemed to flourish in the weather, fixing up things around the house and whistling off to work.

Jim glared at his brother from his position in the rocking chair on the porch. "You _would_ like this weather, you mutant."

"Mutant, says the pregnant man_." _Sam chuckled. " Yeah, your being a freak-of-nature kind of takes the sting out of that insult."

"Well I may be pregnant, but I'm not the one late to work, am I?" As Sam cursed and hurried away, Jim pulled up his shirt and rubbed his swelling belly.

Despite Jim's popularity in school, none of his friends were close ones, and he didn't have to worry about them showing up at his house. He didn't want anyone seeing him with a pregnant belly. Sam was bad enough as it was.

The transition into the Fall was uneventful, except perhaps an incident involving a newspaper article and the _whole state_, but in a world where aliens in your local grocery store is commonplace, the news of Jim's pregnancy became old news fast. After a month, mention of Carriers couldn't be seen on the news, and Jim's fifteen minutes seemed to be up. A positive result of the media coverage was the baby supplies they were sent, a bother to the postman but a relief to Winona, who had been worried about the cost of buying everything.

No one was surprised when Sam proposed to Aurelan on her birthday in October, but Jim was privately astonished that she said yes, as she was very pretty and nice, and his opinion on Sam was a bit more negative. Their engagement resulted in her being over at the Kirk residence constantly, looking longingly at Jim's stomach, and shooting pointed looks at Sam.

"Jim, you are _so lucky_ you are going to have a baby. I just can't _wait_ to have one myself." Stare.

Jim couldn't help but smirk when Sam gave Aurelan a frightened look, and mumbled something about waiting a few years and getting a steady job. His fiancee then put all of her frustrated baby-desire into helping Jim. She peeled his oranges and rubbed his feet and basically spoiled him.

One afternoon on Thanksgiving, Jim asked her to leave Sam and run away with him, prompting an indulgent look from her, and a smack on the head from Sam.

"Stop trying to steal my girl, fat ass."

Jim looked wildly at his brother. "At least I have a reason for my belly."

Sam glared at Jim while Aurelan laughed at Sam. "You _are_ getting a bit soft 'round the middle, babe."

"Well," Sam glared, "It will only get bigger with all this Thanksgiving food." Sam bent down to check the oven while Aurelan peeled potatoes. Jim was snacking on an orange, and he could vaguely hear his mother in the living room, safely out of the vicinity of the kitchen, where she couldn't attempt something dangerous. Like cooking.

When the food was finished, Sam and Jim compared stomachs to see who was fatter, and Aurelan frowned and told Sam to accompany her to the gym so he would look good for the wedding.

After embarrassing Sam, she turned to Jim. "When is your due date, by the way?"

Jim, who had been laughing at his brother, suddenly stopped, and started to look a little green. "Really soon, like, December 16 soon."

The task of putting up leftovers was Jim's job on holidays his mother had been home, and he maneuvered his belly so he could pick up plates and and put food into bowls. Aurelan looked at the calendar, and gasped. "Damn, that's less than a month from now!" She looked back at Jim, and took the plates from him. "Until then, you are just going to rest." Jim tried to protest, but Aurelan waved the plate like a weapon and any motivation to resist evaporated.

The due date loomed closer, and his mother and Aurelan fretted over Jim and constantly touched his distorted belly. The sensation of a moving _thing_ inside his body was a tiny bit horrifying, and Jim had images of many a zombie movie that had started off in a similar fashion.

When the day finally arrived, Jim winced as Dr. Michaels went over, _again and in detail,_ what he would experience with a Caesarian Section operation. It sounded like a nightmare, and not to mention extremely gross. While he was under pain killers Jim knows he said some fucked up stuff, because Sam had smiled at him and that was a sign of the apocalypse.

When Jim woke up after being sedated, he immediately noticed the empty feeling in his stomach. The room he was in was clinically white, and the IV next to his bed was dripping slowly into a tube leading into his arm. He scanned the room and saw his mother was next to his bed, holding a blue bundle. She soon noticed Jim was awake, and handed the bundle to Jim.

"Say hello to your son."

Jim took the baby, making sure to be careful. He looked down and felt a warm feeling flutter in his chest, an instant love that told Jim he had made the right choice. The baby had a small, red face with a shock of jet black hair. His eyes were closed, and Jim couldn't help but wonder which father he would take after in that respect. He had tiny, pointed ears and eyebrows, but Dr. Michaels informed them that the baby had a mostly human physiology.

"I would even go as far to venture that the other father had a percentage of human heritage, considering he has very few Vulcan traits. Other than that, he is a healthy baby boy. Congratulations!" She smiled at Jim, looking proud and just as tired as he was, her dark hair escaping her bun.

Jim nodded absently, and heard his mother and the doctor speak softly, but his attention was focused solely on his son. He silently thanked the cadet, Spock, for this miracle, even if the other boy would never know.

* * *

A/N:1) added some stuff to this chapter. 2)A few people have addressed that Winona could very easily, based off the information that the other father was Vulcan, figure out that the father is Spock. And yes, she could. But I think that, if she feels Jim will want to find the father, then he will. She isn't going to get involved in that, and based off Jim's brief explanation, she can deduce it was a one-night stand. She is respecting Jim by not looking for Spock behind his back, because she has no need to. But I do think that it's plausible she might have never heard of Spock, as she was on a starship most of the time, and he was a cadet.

REVIEW PLEASE I LOVE YOU


	5. Dad!

_**5 Years Later.....**_

The bar was dark and a more than a little dingy, but it was the best place to get a drink in Riverside, and therefore, a date. Or, if you were a little less romantic, a great place to pick up someone you could leave in the morning. It was frequented by cadets from the shipyard and the locals who had nothing better to do with their free time.

Jim had free time, so there he was.

"You got your eye on anyone tonight, Jimmy?", the bartender rasped. Jim glanced around at the new shipment of cadets in the bar, red uniforms everywhere bright in the glow of the bar lights, looking for something pretty and temporary. He sipped at his beer and shrugged.

"We'll have to see. In fact....."

Jim targeted on a platinum blonde who had just walked in, laughing with her fellow cadets. Jim waited until she sat at the bar, then he winked at the bartender, and stayed where he was. She would notice him, sooner rather than later; he was attractive, and when he wanted attention, he got it.

Sure enough, after taking a few shots with her friends, her eyes locked on him, and her demeanor changed; She sat up straighter, laughed louder, and flipped her hair. The bartender, Larry, rolled his eyes at Jim.

"_Every_ coupla' weeks, Jimmy. You going to make this one last? Meet your boy?"

Jim slung back the rest of his beer before accepting another from Larry. "My kid has everything he needs, I make sure of it. Besides, I don't trust anyone with my son besides the people he already has."

Larry cleaned his glass and grunted. Everyone in town knew about Jim's stepdad after a 12 year old James Kirk drove the man's antique vehicle off a cliff; and they all knew about the bitter divorce two years after that. Still, kid worked a shitty job so his son could go to private school, and Larry had never seen a better father.

"Well, I still hold out hope for ya."

Jim gave his friend a sardonic grin, before shrugging. "Thanks, but all I want is something quick and painless."

The blonde stood up from her group of friends, who all giggled and watched as she made her way over to Jim. She had red lipstick that matched her uniform, and her hair swished down her back as she sauntered over to him. She sat down on the stool next to him, and smiled beatifically.

"So, what can you suggest to drink? I feel a bit lost with all the choices......"

Jim grinned. This was too easy. "Well, everything is pretty good, but Larry knows how to mix up a good drink, real smooth. Let me buy you one, see if you like it. M'name's Jim. It's a pleasure."

The blonde licked her lips briefly, before replying. "My name's Veronica. And thanks for the drink.", she said, as Larry slipped a dark beverage in front of her. She sipped at, and looked surprised.

"Wow, this is good!"

"Of course," Jim said, looking at her up and down "I have excellent taste."

Veronica looked at Jim intently, and after a few more drinks, she agreed to go with him to a motel. As she walked back over to where her friends were seated to grab her purse, Jim turned to Larry.

"In less than 15 minutes. I am _amazing_."

"You are somethin', but I ain't sure that it's called amazing." Larry gruffed.

Jim smiled. "It's time to set phasers to _fun._"

* * *

Jim got back to the farmhouse at four in the morning, the sky still pure black, when he noticed that the kitchen light was still on.

He made his way up to the porch and and pulled out his keys to unlock the front door. As soon as he opened the screen door, a small body crashed into him and hugged his knees.

"Dad! I missed you."

Jim looked down into the bright blue eyes of his son, taking in the beloved familiar features. He was wearing footie pajamas styled in a mock Starfleet captain design. Jim picked the small boy up, and started walking towards the kitchen.

"You are supposed to be asleep, Soren. Grandma must have put you to bed hours ago."

Soren's pointed eyebrows shot up as he grinned. "8 hours ago, but I snuck out when she went to bed."

Jim grinned, and couldn't be mad. There was so much of himself in his son that it was ridiculous. However, the pointed ears, eyebrows, and jet black hair reminded him that somewhere, there was another part of his miracle. However, Jim didn't get maudlin about it; he didn't know Spock, and would probably never again encounter him. And Jim made damn sure that Soren had everything he needed, and most that he wanted.

"Did you go to the bar again, to find me a mommy?"

Jim looked at his son wildly. "Where the hell did you hear that?"

Soren snuggled into his father's arms as Jim sat down at the dining table. "That's what Uncle Sam said when he and Aunt Aurelan and the baby came to eat dinner with us."

"That little fu--fudge. No, I just went to have a drink." He looked at Soren worriedly. "Why, do you want a mommy?"

Soren stared at his father solemnly, and spoke in a voice that was strangely serious for an 8 year old. "I have you, Daddy. And Grandma, Aunt Aurelan, and even Uncle Sam, even though he smells like pork chops."

Jim's laugh rang throughout the small kitchen, and he hugged the boy closer to him. "He does, doesn't he? Oh man, I am _so_ telling him that in the morning. Well, later this morning. Speaking of, we need to go to sleep, little man. It's a school night."

The child nodded. "I know, but I missed you a bunch today, so I waited to make sure you were safe."

The young sandy-haired man traced his son's ear, before softly pinching the small point that it tapered into. "I will always come home to you. Always."

Soren yawned as Jim made his way up the stairs, to his room. Soren's room was next to his, but he had a feeling the kid would just sneak his way into Jim's room anyway, so might as well save the trouble. He toed off his shoes, and set the boy down on his bed, before climbing in. As his eyes drooped shut, he felt his son snuggle close to his body.

"Goodnight Dad, I love you."

Jim smiled in the darkness, and ruffled the black hair. "I love you too."

---

Sam didn't think it was funny that Soren thought he smelled like cooked swine, or that everyone apparently agreed with the sentiment, but it certainly put Jim in a good mood.

"C'mon Sam, he's just a kid. Kids always say shit like that."

The elder Kirk proceeded to spray copious amounts of men's deodorant all over himself.

"Don't give me that crap. Kids always tell the truth. 'Sides, your kid is a genius, so I need to listen to what he says especially."

Jim rolled his eyes, but continued getting ready for work.

The house was strangely silent and empty when he got back, and Jim sank down into an chair to enjoy it. His back ached from being stuck in one position for several hours, working on an electrical job at the Starfleet shipyard.

"_The closest you'll ever get to Starfleet."_

Jim shook his head, trying to dispel the thought from his mind. After taking several jobs at the shipyard, he had begun to recognize a few people. Unfortunately, one of them was Admiral Komack, who had known Jim's father and had taken an instant dislike to Jim. As much as he tried to ignore the jabs, he couldn't help but feel bitter.

A noise in the street alerted Jim, and he quickly arranged his face out of it's melancholic default to a more positive expression.

The door was opened with such force that it bounced off the wall, and rapid steps carried into the living room.

"Dad! Are you home?"

Jim's heart felt light, as it always did, at the sound of his son's voice.

"In the dining room, Soren!"

Soren Kirk ran into the room, his jet black hair sticking up wildy like Jim's did when he didn't style it. His clear blue eyes lit up at the sight of his father and he jumped excitedly into Jim's lap.

"Dad, dad, look at my test! I made a 100! Oh and my teacher wanted me to give you this note."

Jim gingerly took the folded note from his son's hand, and scanned over it. He had received similar notes before, suggesting that Soren be moved up a grade, or acquire a private tutor. The problem was, Soren was already moved up several grades, and smaller than all of his classmates. A tutor would cost money Jim didn't have. His son was smart, brilliant even, and Jim wanted him to get an enriching education. However, his options were severely limited.

Soren was talking about school, and how he had heard one of the boy talking about kissing girls, and why would he do that when everyone knew girls had cooties?

Jim stood up, picking his son up with him. "One day you will think the same way those boys do, and I will be trying to convince you that they still have cooties. Or at least a venereal disease."

Soren laughed as Jim set him down at the kitchen table. "Ewwww! Like I would ever kiss a girl!"

The replicator was broken, and Jim had been too lazy to fix it, in any case. He was making tea on the stove top when the creak of the screen door signaled an arrival.

"Who left the front door open? You'll let the flies in."

Soren pouted at Winona. "Sorry Grandma, it was me."

Winona softened in the face of her grandson, and simply smiled. "Just close it next time, honey." She rustled through the grocery bags, and sighed. "I forgot onions."

Jim stood up. "Don't worry mom, I'll go by and get some."

---

When he returned, he opened the door, walking into a flood of light, and the first thing he noticed was the aroma.

"Is someone making pork chops or did Sam leave his scent?"

Sam walked by in a cooking apron, holding a pot of what looked like mashed potatoes.

"Just for that smart ass comment, no food for you."

Leaving his boots by the door, Jim shrugged off his jacket and put it in the hall closet. "Why are you even here?"

Winona walked into the kitchen, with foil on her hair and a curious Soren trailing behind her. "Aurelan's mother is at their house. So he is avoiding her and making us food. I think it works for everyone."

A frown passed over Sam's face as he glanced at Jim. "It works out for everyone but that jerk. Like hell is he getting any of my food"

Jim put his hand over his heart, as if scandalized. "Sir, there are _children_ present!"

Soren ran over to Jim, who obligingly picked him up. "Daddy, I know better than to say those words. Otherwise, Grandma will make me put money in the _swear jar_."

Winona nodded in agreement. "I sure will. Someone has to, Jim, you spoil the boy to death. He needs a little discipline. But," she smiled, "he's a good boy."

"No", Sam interjected, "He's a little demon. Like his father." Despite his words, Sam was grinning at his nephew. Sam turned and walked back into the kitchen, while Soren squirmed out of his father's grasp and followed his uncle into the other room.

"Honey, go take a shower. Your greasy self isn't getting near my dining table." Winona smirked, and went into the kitchen.

Jim rolled his eyes but dutifully made his way up the stairs towards the bathroom after handing her the bag of onions.

* * *

"Soren, stop moving your head."

Jim ran the comb gently through his son's black hair, trying not to accidently stab his progeny in the eye. Usually, his hair was a spiky mass that stood like a wild corona around his head, but Jim was making an effort to tame it for Soren's open house at school.

After running a bit of gel through it, Jim stood back to observe his son. He was swinging his feet in the chair, wearing a black button down and grey slacks. His hair parted at the side and combed over, and he looked like a tiny businessman.

"I think we have it! You look very professional."

Soren turned in the chair to look in the mirror that was in Jim's bedroom.

"I look like a nerd, Dad!" Soren turned his head and made a serious face. For a moment, Jim was put off guard; although he had met Spock once, he remembered vividly what he looked like, and Soren physically resembled him very closely, especially with that face he was making. Soren then pulled his face into a quick snarl, and let out a growl.

"You look handsome, all those older girls will be all over you. Now lets head out, or we will be late."

Soren jumped out of the chair, and and ran out the bedroom door, Jim right behind him.

Riverside Academy was a good school, best in the state. Most of the students were children of Starfleet officers stationed at the shipyard, or independently wealthy families. Jim worked to pay the tuition, along with using some of the money his mother had received after the USS Kelvin. However, his lack of wealth, his youth, and his Carrier status set him apart from any of the other parents at the school, and it was never more obvious than at functions like these. But Jim wanted to see what his kid could do, so all those judgmental asswipes could stop staring at him and get on with their life.

Jim was just glaring back at an older man when he felt Soren tug on his shirt. "Dad, my teacher is over there." Soren pointed at a fairly young woman who was setting up the children's project displays. The duo made their way over to her, and Jim waited until she straightened up to speak. "Hello, you're the teacher?"

The mousy woman turned, tucking her light brown hair behind her ears. She turned a warm smile on Soren before looking politely up at Jim. "Yes, I am Mrs. Klein. And you are the ...older brother?"

_She must be new here._ "Ah, no, Jim Kirk, his father."

Mrs. Klein hid her surprise well, and covered it with a handshake. "I'm sorry, forgive me. It's good to meet you, Soren is a pleasure to have in class. Have you received my notes...?"

Soren ran off to talk to his friends, and Jim smiled wanly at the teacher. "Yes, but he's skipped so many grades already, I just want him to be around people his own age."

The hum of chatter in the room grew as more parents arrived with their children. "To be honest, Mr. Kirk, I think your son needs to go to a specialized school. Not only is he smart, but he is obviously of mixed heritage."

Jim felt a flare of anger. "I didn't know that was a problem, especially at a school as reportedly good as this."

The woman gave Jim a shrewd look. "It isn't, at least not in the way you are assuming. Soren looks part Vulcan, correct?"

He nodded warily, not sure where this conversation was going.

Mrs. Klein nodded to herself. "Vulcans process information better, and have a better capacity for memorization. I'm sure you have heard the stereotype that they are 'smarter' than humans, which isn't exactly true, but the general result. Anyway, I think Soren might have some of that ability, in addition to his intelligence. Meaning that there is very little we could teach him here."

Jim sighed and looked over at his son, who was talking to his friend and messing up his own hair; Jim's effort was wasted. "Well, I don't have the resources to move, and I don't want to send him off."

Mrs. Klein nodded, but her face was reproachful. "There are schools that would love to take him, but if your decision is to keep him here, I will do my best to make sure he doesn't get bored."

Jim smiled at her gratefully and turned, letting her talk to the other parents. Soren joined his side and they quickly made their way over to Soren's project for the science fair.

He had won, of course, detailing the properties of high-temperature superconducters, and making a model scale of how they worked, with the electrons sliding through ceramic layers.

Jim had helped making the play-doh balls signifying electrons on a day he wasn't working. He was proud to see the ribbon on the model, but mainly just liked hearing Soren babble about things that were beyond what many adults in this town knew. He was very smart, unavoidably so, and Jim felt guilty. He wanted the best for his son, but the only option seemed to be moving.

After a short awards ceremony (Soren won something called the 'Gold Star Award', which he kept dropping on the ground) and strained small talk with other parents, Jim and Soren went back home. Winona was sitting on the couch when they walked through the door, and she made appropriate noises of awe at Soren's trophy.

Jim went to his bedroom, and researched specialized schools on the internet. Most of them were on the East or West coasts, but boasted amazing academics and a variety of programs. Jim knew his son would flourish there, and be engaged with what he was doing. And Jim remembered how it felt in school, to be bored out of his mind doing meaningless work. Jim had yet to feel challenged at anything, and he would probably be bored and delinquent if he didn't have a child to raise.

Jim turned off the holoscreen and leaned back in his desk chair. He didn't want Soren to feel that same apathy, and he would try what he could to make that possible. After giving Soren a bath and putting him to bed, Jim put Soren's trophy in the glass case in the living room, next to George Kirk Sr.'s medal of valor.

He sat down with his mother on the old sofa, informing her of the situation.

She fiddled with the ties of her pink bath robe, looking serious even with her hair in rollers.

"I think it would be best if he got the right education. Just like I wish you had."

Jim rolled his eyes at the old argument. "Mom, not now-"

Winona shook her head. "I realize you had a child to raise Jim, but you are so much better than this place! You are brilliant and young, and I don't want to see your talent wasted."

Jim toyed with a stray thread on the couch. He knew his potential, better than anyone. But he didn't have a choice in the matter; he wasn't going to be absent in his son's life. Thinking about 'what ifs' would lead to nowhere.

"I'm heading out to the bar. Call me if you need me, I should be back in the morning."

He ignored his mother's sigh and walked out the door.

----

Although having the night end with a bloody nose wasn't preferred, it wasn't necessarily unusual. No, unusual was having a Starfleet captain talk to you about your potential, and school for your son, and basically acting like he had all the answers to everything you ever worried about.

Even more unusual is your family agreeing. While Jim was on the recruitment shuttle, his family was packing for a spontaneous move to San Francisco. Sam and Aurelan were staying in Iowa, but Winona and Soren were leaving. Jim wouldn't have agreed to this stupid thing if Pike hadn't told him about the school funded by Starfleet, that would enrich a student like Soren and definitely accept him on such short notice with a Captain's recommendation.

Jim sighed, and looked over to his new friend Leonard McCoy. "How you feeling there Bones?"

The doctor looked wildly around the shuttle, and glared at Jim. "How do you think I am, in this death trap? Ask me again when we're on solid ground."

Starfleet, where his life began. Jim didn't believe in destiny, or that things happened for a reason. He believed life was a series of random circumstances that made you into the person you became. He spared a thought to wonder what circumstances Starfleet would bring, until he remembered his son's school brochure in his pocket. Bones got nosy and Jim started talking about Soren, which got Bones talking about his daughter Joanna, and Jim shifted focus.

It would all work out, somehow.

* * *

A/N: The delay. I KNOW! I suck, I'm evil, etc. Real life got in the way, and this chapter was freaking hard to write. I rewrote it at least 69 times, I swear. I still don't like it, but I promise, Spock next chapter!

Your reviews really help kick me in the butt. You guys were desperate, cursing me to hell, and I got my act together and tried my best to deliver.

so REVIEW! It helps! I was going to just go on with life, but you guys reviewed and I changed my mind. Next chapter def wont take so long, expect it later this month. I'm moving to a new state, so thats my excuse this time.


	6. He Has Your Ears

**Three years later**

The private school Starfleet sponsored in San Francisco was perfect. Any doubts Jim had had about shipping his family across the country had fled the day Soren had come home from his first day at the new school. His eyes had been shining, and his mouth ran a lightyear a minute until he had to pause in his narration to breathe, which had been assuring, because Soren had been talking for at least five straight minutes and Jim had been starting to suspect demon possession.

Over the next few years, Soren flourished at the school, coming home with various awards and amusing anecdotes about how he was still (academically) kicking ass. The school was progressive in its teaching methods, and it was evidenced in one of its brightest students.

In fact, the only problem Soren seemed to have was that he was slightly hyperactive, and exhausted his instructors on a daily basis. At a parent/teacher conference, one of the teachers jokingly suggested a tranquilizer dart, and Jim had laughed until he looked at the teacher's unsmiling face and realized they had been more than a little serious.

Jim went to Starfleet, and the first few years were filled with fundamental classes that took barely any common sense and even less concentration. Jim spent his extra time with his son, embarrassing his mother, or trying to made Bones mad, a pastime that, three years later, was still proving to be satisfying.

"You can't be serious."

"Bones, I'm beginning to suspect you don't take me _seriously_." Jim looked at his friend with a wounded face, hand on his chest in indignation.

"What is possessing you to take the Kobayashi Maru for a third time!? No has ever passed it, and no one ever will. Done. The end."

Jim smirked, and headed up the steps the Starfleet Academy. "Soren thinks I can do it."

"Well, Jim, as smart as that kid is, he thinks you hung the moon, so excuse me if I don't take his opinion as anything other than biased."

"If he heard you say that, you would be getting a lecture on the Earth's gravitational pull of the moon, complete with visual chart."

He stopped abruptly on the steps, and turned to McCoy. "It will be worth your time. Trust me."

Leonard looked at his friend, his head slowly shaking. "To be honest, I'm afraid to."

Jim grinned even wider. "I make your life exciting, no need to thank me."

* * *

When Spock was called into the simulation site, he was irritated. When he was briefed on the cause of his summons, the feeling had evolved into annoyance. Someone had hacked the simulation. Despite many students' confusion over the lesson to be gained from failing the Kobayashi Maru, none had dared try to tamper with the test.

_Or had the skill to_, Spock thought unwillingly. He stepped into the observation area, and was handed a file on the cadet in question. James Kirk.

If Spock had not years of training in the principles of Surak to suppress his emotions, he would have winced. As a Vulcan, his ability to retain information and recall memories was above par for most humanoid species. So this boy, this _man_, he remembered with perfect clarity. The face grinning smugly was not much changed from his younger counterpart, besides perhaps that Kirk had a more defined jaw. Spock looked through the one way glass, and observed Kirk take a bite out of an apple, glancing around the mock-bridge with barely concealed mirth. He turned to the proprietors of the test. "Run the standard scans to be put on file, but the cause of the glitch was most likely a hack by Cadet Kirk into the simulation system. After the scans are completed, schedule an academic hearing."

One of the proprietors looked up from the PADD he was taking notes on. "What shall I put as the hearing topic?"

Spock answered, his eyes still on Kirk eating the apple. "Academic dishonesty."

------------

The hearing room was full of cadets, and the board had tried and failed to make Jim feel guilty.

When he asked to see his accuser, he was pretty sure any smugness on his face completely wiped off.

It was Spock. Jim's eyes frantically ran over the Vulcan's features, categorizing them into what Jim could recall seeing on the face of his son everyday. The thin purse of Spock's lips were so _Soren_ that Jim almost missed what Spock was saying. He quickly snapped back to reality, and shot off at no-win situations. Spock pulled the ultimate dick move and brought up the USS Kelvin, and Jim didn't know if the other man was being such an ass because he didn't remember him or because he _did_.

Somewhere in the middle of the most intense staring contest of Jim's life, the hearing was indefinitely dismissed and the previously still room was filled with energy, people running everywhere and voices shouting. Jim turned his head only to find Spock had already left.

By the time Jim had located Bones in the mist of madness, cadets were being herded onto ships. After finding out that he was going to be left behind as a result of probation, Jim was just going to count this as the most annoying day of his life. Luckily, his best friend was an insane, brilliant doctor, and Jim found himself on board the Fleet's flagship, the USS Enterprise, albeit with hyposprays being jammed into his neck at every open interval.

The following few weeks were a crucial period in Jim's life. Being marooned on Delta Vega, meeting Spock Prime, seeing Vulcan destroyed and working with Spock to save Earth seemed to all go by quickly before Jim found himself back in San Francisco, offered up as the hero to the resulting fanfare. Of course, Jim didn't mention in his press junket how the only thing he was thinking of while stalking around the inside of the Narada was not the fate of Earth's 7 billion inhabitants, but in fact on a little boy who had cried breathlessly through the tinny connection when Jim had contacted him from Delta Vega.

Nor did he mention the shock he felt when, before beaming onto said enemy ship, Uhura and father of his child shared a kiss, chaste for any human but basically fucking with flavored lube in Vulcan terms. Of course, Jim never thought Spock would be pining after him, because Jim sure as hell hadn't, but he chalked his shock up to heightened emotions and looked away.

The first thing Jim did when he stepped back into terra firma was to go home, and hug his son like he would never let go. The mere thought that the rogue Romulans had been so close to destroying everything Jim could ever care about was terrifying. He cried into his son's hair, bawling as his mother ran her fingers through Jim's hair, tears rapidly falling down her own face. Soren stood still, getting snot on Jim's Starfleet uniform. The day was spent ignoring everything but his family. He even called Sam and pretended not to hear the wetness in his brother's voice, and was glad when Sam returned the favor.

Jim heard rumors following his return to Starfleet; about how they would accelerate Jim's degree and let him captain the Enterprise right after graduation. A part of Jim felt elated, as that was what he wanted. But captaining a ship meant long periods of time away from Earth, and Soren was only 8. He didn't want to miss out on the guaranteed hilarity that would be his son going through puberty. Perhaps after Soren was an adult, and Jim could do the captain thing for a bit before he returned to embarrass his offspring some more. Of course, Jim suspected that there was someone else who might not want to miss out on their son growing up. Jim even had a sort of camaraderie with Spock. Now that the threat was eliminated, Jim didn't have any excuses not to tell Spock the truth. He owed it to the man, at the very least because Soren was his family, and with the destruction of Vulcan and the death of his mother, Spock could use some.

So it was with trepidation that Jim walked into the science building of Starfleet, heading purposely to the direction of Spock's office. He was wearing his red cadet uniform with a messenger bag slung across his shoulders. He really hoped that this talk would go well, and that Spock would choose not to employ the Vulcan Death Grip on him again, but one could really never tell. He was in front of the door before he realized it, and took a few calming breaths before gently knocking on the door. A few beats passed and Spock's monotone voice filtered through the door, telling him to enter.

Jim stepped through the threshold as the door slid open and closed behind him. Spock's office was painfully neat, papers in precise stacks and not even a potted plant as a half hearted attempt at decoration. The only bit was a small picture of Amanda Grayson, Spock's mother, on his desk. Spock was sitting straight in his chair, tapping at a PADD before setting it down and glancing at Jim.

"Yes, Mr. Kirk?"

"Jim is fine."

Spock simply stared at him. "Jim, then, please take a seat."

Jim sat down and tried to mentally slow his heart beat, which had decided to go wild since stepping into the office.

"Spock...I need to tell you something. Important." Jim glanced up at the Vulcan, who was looking at him with curiosity.

"Go ahead."

Jim sighed, and decided to plow ahead. "Do you remember the first time we ever met? _Really _met?"

Those liquid brown eyes stared, and after a few minutes, Jim was starting to feel uncomfortable.

"If you are referring to the time when I was a cadet at this institution and you were involved in a bar altercation from which I helped you, then yes, I remember. What is it you need to tell me?"

Jim bit his lip. "Well, you remember what happened after the bar, in your room.....right, ok," he stumbled, after seeing the sudden frown on Spock's face. "Well, there was something about myself I didn't know at the time. I'm a Carrier, Spock."

Spock's eyes were wide, his pointed eyebrows high on his forehead. "If I recall, we did not use any form of contraceptives."

Jim shook his head.

The Vulcan kept _looking _at him until Jim spoke again. "I got pregnant."

The tension in the office was overwhelming, and Spock finally spoke again. "What happened to ....the child?"

Jim pulled a hand through his hair, trying to keep himself from flying apart. "He was born. I raised him. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner...I honestly didn't know you were even on planet until the hearing."

Spock stayed silent, until he softly uttered a word. "...._him?"_

Out of the messenger bag came a photo album, filled with pictures of Soren that Winona had collected since her grandson's birth. Jim put it on the desk.

"These are pictures of him. His name is Soren. I'm not trying to get anything from you by telling you this, I just though you would want to know after....after everything."

Jim watched as Spock opened the album, his fingers shaking as he traced the face of their son. Wide brown eyes scanned the photos, staring at them for long periods before turning the pages. About halfway through, Spock glanced up at Jim with an indecipherable look.

"Spock, I'll leave the book here with you for a while. If you want to talk about this more, just let me know. I know it's a lot to take in, and I don't want to mess up your life, and you don't have to meet him if you--"

"Yes."

"W-what?"

Spock looked back at the album. "I...want to meet him.

Something tight in Jim's chest eased a little bit, and he felt as if he could breathe again. Spock was exhibiting more emotion than Jim had ever seen on a Vulcan face, their son excluded. Jim turned to head out the door and maybe to get drunk with Bones while Spock got used to the idea of a kid, when Spock's voice stopped him.

"Why did you choose a Vulcan name?"

A million ready excuses filtered through Jim's brain, because this situation was already pretty mortifying and Jim had a default setting during times of crisis. However, at the vaguely wobbly look on Spock's face, Jim decided to go with the truth. He turned to face the desk once more as he spoke.

"When he was born....he looked so grumpy that a human name didn't seem to fit."

The only movement in the room was one of Spock's pointed eyebrows. Despite the look of incredulity, Jim laughed.

"Return the album back when you are ready. See you around."

Jim exited into the hallway, quickly supporting himself against the wall once the door was shut again. He let out a long sigh, and rubbed his face. Yeah, he would definitely be getting drunk tonight.

After a few days, Jim let himself calm down. He didn't tell Winona or Soren about telling Spock. The only person who knew had sympathetically let him raid their alcohol stash. Bones knew all about repressive drinking.

* * *

One of his advanced command classes had just let out, and Jim was mentally reviewing the lesson. Apparently, saving the planet from destruction was not enough to excuse a person from homework, despite Jim's best efforts. His eyes were staring blankly ahead, so he didn't notice Spock walking towards him until his hand closed over Jim's shoulder to keep him from barreling into the Vulcan.

"Oh Spock, didn't see you there!" Any accumulated calm immediately fled and was replaced with panic.

"I was looking for you. I am here to return the album." Spock held out the photo album, which Jim took and placed into his messenger bag. After that, he stood awkwardly while cadets weaved around them and Spock stared.

"So, is there anything-"

"I want to meet him"

Jim looked up, startled. The face in front of him looked impassive, but Jim knew enough to know that it was anything but.

"Okay, we can do that. I'll have to tell him, get him prepared. Anytime in particular? I'm free outside of classes."

"As soon a possible. I fear that our acquaintance has been long delayed."

Jim felt his stomach plummet. "Are you angry about that?"

Spock shook his head minutely. "Although my understanding of human emotion is abecedarian at best, I know enough to understand your choices regarding this matter. In your position, I may have acted similarly."

At the rate at which his emotions were constantly shifting, Jim was pretty sure he was going to get an early heart attack.

"Ok, well its Tuesday today....how about on Friday? I have a free day then and Soren has no school."

Spock agreed, and after saying their goodbyes, they went their separate ways. That was a piece of the hard part. Now he just had to tell Soren.

* * *

**A/N:** Ok so here it is. I hope it wasn't too fast paced, I just really didn't want to repeat the movie, we all know what happens during that time, no need to hear it again. Thank you for the lovely reviews, I love hearing from you guys, you keep this thing alive! I do this FOR YOU.

EDIT: I was wonky with the timeline, but too lazy to fix. However, someone noticed, so I decided to fix it. Five years after Soren was born, Jim goes to Starfleet. So Soren is now 8, which puts Jim at the right age movie wise. Ok? Ok.

so review pretties!


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